The history of the Deadliest fire in US history, the Peshtigo fire of 1871

[elmac]

I have studied this fire for many years because northern MI suffered a massive fire within hours of this fire. It was also on the same day as the great Chicago fire.

[madaboutharry]

1. That was very interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Book rec: Firestorm in Peshtigo

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/542307.Firestorm_at_Peshtigo

Apparently, Hinckley, MN, suffered a similar fate in 1894: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1670659.Under_a_Flaming_Sky

[BigmanPigman]

3. 1.2 million acres burned and over 1,100 dead

plus a firestorm with the heat, winds and speed. This is similar to what was experienced in CA this past week and Greece a week ago. The problem with Climate Change deniers is that they would listen to this history and say, "See, it happened a 150 years ago so the weather now is the same". Of course you could point out the facts that the firestorms chasing people too quickly to escape are occurring all over the planet and fairly often is a NEW problem but I doubt any deniers would even bother to listen.

[elmac]

5. you are correct about the deniers

there have been weather extremes since records have been kept and before. The difference now is that we are seeing more and more of these extreme weather events, becoming more and more common.

[robersl]

4. Thank you for posting this elmac

You did a good job with the history, and Pesh-TEE-go may be the correct Algonquin pronunciation of the word, but I grew up just a few miles from there in Oconto, and nobody pronounces it like that - it's PESH-tih-go.